Female siamese cat..

Question
My 2 1/2 yr. old Schilling is manic. When I first got her, my now ex husband physically and verbally abused her.Even though I have created a loving secure environment, she tears out the fur on her back, vomits and screeches to high heaven. I thought the vomiting was because of all the fur she tears out, so I have her on a hair ball remedy to no avail. She is eating high quality food for sensitive stomachs, Royal Canin, for Siamese, Science Diet mixed.I also have a 10 yr. old Seal Point, and he is wonderful. She is destroying our peace of mind, I really need help. They are both fixed. I found something at the local GNC called "Restless Remedy" it is all natural herbs, and in an alcohol base designed to put inside the ears, or can be used also in water which I am not interested in..because of the alcohol...it is supposed to relax or calm pets..My nerves are shot...I love both of my cats, but cannot go on this way with the vomiting, and screaming...Please Help!!!

Answer
Hi Angela,

First of all, your kitty is definitely suffering food sensitivities and those dry "sensitive stomach" diets are no good. They contain a lot of grain, which most cats are unable to tolerate, and not enough fat and protein. I have no idea why the cat food companies try to market these diets as good for sensitive stomachs they make cats worse not better.

Your kitty is not vomiting because of hairballs, but because she is unable to digest the grains in her dry food and probably has a tummy ache a lot of the time.

Try switching to a grain-free canned food only, such as Wellness, Nature's Variety or Merrick. Canned foods contain much more meat and higher protein than dry foods, and provide much needed water in the diet. The brands I mentioned do not have grain in them - a common cause of vomiting.

Even better, make your own raw meat diet at home (it is very easy- I'm a vegetarian and hate making my own food but I manage this for my cats!) Here are some excellent websites on cat nutrition and how to feed a cat to eliminate her vomiting and other food allergy related problems and vastly increase your cats' health:

http://www.catnutrition.org/vetletter.html
http://www.catinfo.org
http://www.felinefuture.com

Also start giving her some slippery elm bark made into a paste with water. You can buy the powder at health food stores, mix about one teaspoon with enough water to make it into a gel-like paste. Then use a syringe to squirt it into her mouth. Cats don't seem to mind the taste much but it is better given on an empty stomach (works better). It coats the GI tract and is anti-inflammatory and also contains fibre which will help if she does have hairballs.  Give a small syringe full about an hour before a meal each day.

The Rescue Remedy you found actually works very well. If you add 4 drops to 50mL of water (you can buy a "mixing bottle" with dropper, and then put a dropper full of the diluted solution on her food daily. The amount of alcohol in the very dilute solution will not be detectable. If you want to completely eliminate the alcohol, boil water and add the 4 drops of Rescue Remedy to about 50mL of the boiling water, and allow to cool before using. The boiling water will vaporize the alcohol. You will have to use up the resulting solution within 1 week and/or keep refrigerated because the alcohol is there to preserve it.

Nutritionally, you can help reduce anxiety by supplementing your cat's food with tryptophan, an amino acid that is a serotonin precursor and helps mellow out mammals. You can buy it at some health food stores and online at places like vitaminshoppe.com. Get capsules, you can pull the capsules apart and sprinkle the powder on canned food and mix in - it has no taste so your cat should eat it fine. Tryptophan is much cheaper and just as effective as "kitty prozac" and calming drugs sold by vets. Also it is very safe, since it's just an amino acid present in meat. I recommend giving 500 mg a day to your cat. It should show effects within a few days.

I also recommend using Feliway plug-in diffusers and/or spray. Feliway mimics facial pheremones cats use to mark their territory by rubbing their cheeks on things, and it is a big help with reducing aggression. You can find Feliway at most pet stores or online. I find the spray most effective but best of all is to use the diffuser for a constant level (it also seems to take 2 weeks or so to work) and the spray re-applied every 3 days. Spray it on doorways and furniture at cat-rubbing level.

Good luck!